Micro-actuators have been formed on insulators or other substrates using micro-electronic techniques such as photolithography, vapor deposition, and etching. Such micro-actuators are often referred to as micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) devices. An example of a micro-actuator includes a micro-mirror device. The micro-mirror device can be operated as a light modulator for amplitude and/or phase modulation of incident light. One application of a micro-mirror device is in a display system. As such, multiple micro-mirror devices are arranged in an array such that each micro-mirror device provides one cell or pixel of the display.
A conventional micro-mirror device includes an electrostatically actuated mirror supported for rotation about an axis of the mirror. As such, rotation of the mirror about the axis may be used to modulate incident light by directing the incident light in different directions. Preferably, the size of the micro-mirror device is minimized such that the density of an array of such devices can be maximized. As such, resolution of a display device incorporating the micro-mirror device can be increased since more micro-mirror devices can occupy a given area. To effectively direct the incident light in different directions, however, the angle of rotation or tilt of the mirror must be sufficient.
Accordingly, it is desired to increase rotation or tilt of the mirror of the micro-mirror device without having to increase a size of the micro-mirror device.